"It is true that in the last two large-scale engagements, we did not gain an advantage, and the naval battle in Britain inflicted huge losses on the high seas fleet, and the final result was nothing but a draw. And in the Battle of Gibraltar, the fleet commanded by General Tycho was defeated by Majifen. As a result, the two sides maintained a confrontation in the North Sea, and could rely on their own advantages to hold their respective gates, and the British had no intention of taking the initiative to attack. And if we do it again like last time, we will be hit hard. In the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the Entente gradually gained an advantage, their transport lines began to consolidate, and our operation to break diplomatic relations became more difficult. And when the Portuguese base is available, our access to and from the Atlantic will be completely stuck. If Your Excellency and General Schell want to open up a new situation at sea, then the High Seas Fleet must take active action, although it is very risky, but if it does not act, it will be tantamount to turning the entire Atlantic into the backyard of the Entente. And we are trapped in the two closed seas of the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and we can do nothing. Eventually, Count Spee accepted Tycho's suggestion and wrote a letter to Tirpitz urging the High Seas Fleet to take action in the North Sea to reduce the pressure on the Mediterranean Fleet. Of course...... Whether it was effective or not, Count Spee could not say for sure.........

At the same time, when the news of Tycho's defeat reached Germany, the German Admiralty also began to think about the next strategy, as Schell said, if it were to be a war, Tycho and Majiffin were indeed a notch behind. With the gradual improvement of the Portuguese naval base, when the Entente fleet moves to Portugal, I am afraid that the entire Allied Mediterranean Fleet will really degenerate into an existing fleet, and the other side will occupy a dual advantage in strength and geography. And if the Entente countries are allowed to send a large number of troops and materials to Europe, the Allied bloc that can only obtain supplies from China will inevitably be at a strategic disadvantage, no matter how powerful China is, the materials provided cannot be compared with Britain, France and the United States, which have colonies everywhere, not to mention that China's materials need to be exchanged for real money! The Allies can support it for a short time. But for a long time. The Allies don't have that many precious metals!

When the United States officially entered the war, the balance of the war had already tilted in favor of the Entente, so the idea of Tirpitz and Moltke Jr. was no longer how to completely defeat Britain and France, but how to get a decent ending. Preserve the fruits of German victory on the Eastern Front. And if you want to force the other side to sit down and talk, the first thing to do is to make the other side understand that the huge productive forces may not all be converted into combat power, and the allies must let the other side know that the Atlantic transportation line is not safe! And in order to enable the Allied Mediterranean Fleet to better threaten the other side's transportation lines, the High Seas Fleet must take action to contain the power of Britain and the United States! …。

The question of initiative had been raised long before the Battle of Gibraltar, and now after the defeat at Tycho, the issue had become even more urgent, whether the German fleet was willing to act or not, as Count Spee had said. Fighting a big battle to weaken the Anglo-American fleet was an inevitable choice for the High Seas Fleet. Otherwise, just wait to be trapped and die! But it is easier to say, how to get Jericho to come out and fight with him is a more troublesome problem, the British have become realistic, they have no interest in sea supremacy in the North Sea. As long as the safety of the British mainland can be guaranteed, they will definitely not take the initiative to attack. And if the High Seas Fleet were to wander around Britain again, Scheer could guarantee that it would be bombed even worse.

There are many difficulties, and the time and geographical advantages are on the side of the other side! But there is still a glimmer of light in this darkness. After all, the German Navy was not idle. Especially in terms of naval aviation, with the help of the Chinese, the German naval aviation has improved to a certain extent both in terms of quantity and quality, at least the Germans received engines with an output of 350 horsepower. And before that, Germany had engines of less than 300 horsepower, not to mention compared to British engines, even France had engines of 300 horsepower! Because of the limitations of the engine, it was impossible for the Germans to equip the aircraft with torpedoes weighing almost 600kg while ensuring the range. So the German naval aviation had to settle for the next best thing, choosing bombs as its main means of attack. …………。

The most sophisticated twin-engine bomber in the current German naval aviation was named the Griffin. This prepared two 350 hp engines. The maximum flight speed is about 170km per hour, and the combat radius is about 500km. The maximum bomb load with a full tank is about 400kg, with two pilots. Although it has a certain disadvantage compared to the British Sailfish, this aircraft is relatively strong because of the metal structure partly used. According to the research of the Luftwaffe, the bombing accuracy of this low-altitude shallow dive is much higher than that of horizontal bombing, and there is no too harsh requirements for speed and altitude like torpedo attacks, after all, torpedoes are easy to fail due to vibration, while bombs are much more stable, as long as they can explode! (The German twin-engine bomber in World War 1 was really not good, and I couldn't find a suitable one after looking for a long time, so I could only temporarily overhead one.) Let's make do with the data problem! ）

And the Germans prefer to use high-explosive shells instead of armor-piercing shells, for the simple reason that the depth of penetration of air-dropped armor-piercing shells has a lot to do with the speed and angle of the aircraft's dive, compared with the dive speed of several hundred kilometers and the dive angle of more than 65 degrees of dive bombers in later generations, as well as the weight of the bomb of about 500kg. The combat effectiveness of dive bombers in this era can only be described as a scum five! If a 300kg bomb dives at an angle of no more than 30 degrees and at a speed of less than 250km...... The depth of penetration can only be described as a tragedy, rather than this, it is better to change to more high-explosive bombs loaded with explosives, so the bombs of the German naval aviation are mainly arson, not seeking to completely destroy the opponent's capital ship, as long as it can cause a drop in combat power and fire! …。

In addition, the German Navy also improved the existing seaplane carriers, and in actual combat the Germans found that the seaplanes were actually very poor in air combat because of their weight and appearance. The two pontoons greatly limited the performance of the aircraft, and then they considered whether they could take off directly from the battleship. And related experiments were carried out, but the end result was that it was easy to take off, difficult to land, and there were many cases of accidentally hitting the deck or not stopping in the sea. The final result was that the Germans had to abandon this plan and continue to increase the number of seaplane carriers. Again, during the period, the Germans also tried to change the plan of the Giant four-engine bomber into a seaplane, the Giant was the largest bomber in Germany in World War 1, and it is said that the bomb load could reach 2 tons, of course, in this load situation, the range and speed are a direct tragedy. But because it could accommodate a large amount of equipment and personnel, the Germans intended to convert it into a long-range patrol aircraft.

The German Navy attached great importance to aviation, and the increase in air power did give the Germans a certain confidence. And the poor performance of the US Navy in this naval battle gave the Germans a glimmer of hope. "The New Mexico-class battleships of the US Navy are indeed a good ship in terms of data, but in the hands of the Americans, they can only be slightly stronger than Caesar at most, and the Tennessee-class battleships are a tie with the Italians' Caraccino-class battleships, and our King-class battleships can at least suppress them, even if they cannot sink the New Mexico. After the exchange of fleets, the strength of the Allied fleets in the North Sea increased rather than decreased. If a fair naval engagement breaks out, we have a good chance of defeating our opponents! When evaluating the strength of the opponent's fleet, Scheer said optimistically..........

In terms of strength, the current Anglo-American combined fleet has 7 American super dreadnoughts equipped with 14-inch naval guns, 5 revenge-class battleships, 4 13.5-inch gun battleships and 4 dreadnoughts. There were 20 capital ships in total, while the German Navy had 4 Bismarck-class battleships, 2 Mackensen-class battleships (Izmail-class) and 1 Moltke-class fast battleship, plus 3 King-class, 4 Caesar-class and 4 Nassau-class battleships on the German side. There are 18 ships in total. Overall, in actual combat, the German fleet is still superior, the Bismarck-class battleships are definitely stronger than the Vengeance-class battleships, and the combat power of 3 Kings and 4 Caesars is definitely higher than that of 7 American Super Dreadnoughts. After all, the Americans have only 3 New Mexico. The remaining 4 were inferior to the Caesar-class battleships in real combat in the eyes of the Germans. Counting the two Mackensen-class battleships and the four Nassau-class battleships, the four 13.5-inch battleships against the opponent can be described as crushing. As for the dreadnoughts of the British? All the battles proved that these ships were not a threat at all.

"We still have an advantage, but this advantage will be maintained until next year at most, the British Admiral-class battleships have been launched, and are now being outfitted, and they will definitely be completed next year, and by then, our Bismarck-class battleships will probably be a little powerless in the face of British and American battleships equipped with 16-inch guns!" Scheer speaks very artistically, and while fully analyzing his own strengths, he also mentions his own weaknesses, which highlights the preciousness of the current window period! …。

"I agree with you, but we all seem to have forgotten the crucial question, which is how to get the British to come out and fight us. You can think of the problem of fleet strength, and Jericho must be able to think about it, in this case, they only need to hold the British mainland under the cover of land-based aircraft, why do they have to come out to fight? In the end, Tirpitz's words were like a basin of cold water, which made Scheer and the others calm down instantly, what if the British didn't come out?!

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